Upon arriving at the Kripalu Center for Yoga And Health, the first thing I noticed was all the.... Women. For a few minutes, I experienced the sensation of magically exiting current time, space, and reality, and becoming the male lead in one of those formulaic teenager flicks; where the protagonist somehow finds himself the only dude at summer cheerleading camp. Except instead of cheerleader uniforms, the eye candy ocean of healthy, attractive women are clad in tight, sexy, spandex yoga wear. The plot thickens as he realizes that all the women are barefoot. And he has a foot fetish. After silently mumbling “Be still my beating heart” a few dozen times, I pulled myself together. And, in truth, the first thing I noticed upon entering Kripalu was not the women; that just made for a good opening line. In fact, the first thing that struck me on my arrival was the entrance to the place itself: Two stone pillars, with soft-light lanterns atop them, on either side of a wide driveway. The pillars were offset behind a rock with a sign on top of it that said “Kripalu”, and sat in front of what appeared to be an endless row of tall leafy trees that disappeared into tranquility; all of that surrounded by a sea of more trees and strikingly green grass. It was a veritable explosion of greenness. I saw the entrance from the road, which itself was a winding, idyllic, tree lined stretch of pavement right out of Yankee magazine. Kripalu looked like the entrance to heaven. Once entering, I drove as slow as I could without backing up, because I didn’t want to miss anything (Okay, so the women were actually the third thing I noticed. My opening line was completely fraudulent. Ah, the freedom of creative license.). As the road wound through the natural yet manicured grounds, I felt myself becoming literally engulfed in the atmosphere of the place; as though the branches of the trees that overhung the driveway were gently and welcomingly hugging me into some beautiful, special, and mysterious energy. Flowers, plants, rocks, trees, grass, fields, and stone walls all blended harmoniously, creating a most inviting landscape that I experienced as a perfect balance between wild naturalism and well conceived yet organic order. I though to myself that some divine individual with a lifetime of experience in both Buddhist Meditation and Landscape Architecture must have designed the place. Noticing the women didn’t happen until I actually got to the main building a few minutes later. Needles to say (but I’ll say it anyway, because if I didn’t, I’d have to go back and change the line “Needless to say”, which I don’t want to, because I like how it sounds), my first few minutes at Kripalu were extraordinarily memorable. Please come back to read more of my incredible experience, at this most incredible of places, in upcoming posts.